Good Morning Friends! Here are my 5 Things to Consider this week!
Culture – Rock n Roll Pizza Church. There’s a phrase that kept coming up during the construction of the Cincinnati location as I would give tours and that was “Rock n Roll Pizza Church.” It was how I would describe the LNS side of the operation to people that we’re visiting us for the first time. Over the last couple months, we’ve adopted this term as sort of our go-to phase when describing LNS or questioning if something fits. Without knowing it, we summed up LNS in three words. We distilled and simplified our crazy-ass pizza and booze sanctuary up in an easy to understand and simple phrase. Something everyone can grasp, without even knowing us or stepping foot inside our spots. We created another lens for every decision we make to be held up to. Oddfellows is next on my list for coming up with a three word phrase to describe what we do there. That one might be a little harder.
Leadership – When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. When I heard this turn-of-phrase the other day, I couldn’t stop thinking about how it applies to us both as individuals and the business. At certain times in all our lives, we lift our heads up and begin to look around and take stock of where things are at. Sometimes we realize we’ve dug ourselves into a hole that we’re not crazy about being in. Most often, because of our fear of change or comfortability or complacency, we just keep digging. Sometimes doing the wrong thing that’s familiar is easier than doing the right thing that forces us to change. Sometimes because of our discomfort with having hard conversations or simply not wanting to be the bad guy, we just let situations slide in the wrong direction for way too long. On the business side, sometimes we keep the wrong people around too long or we let rules or standards slide until they become “holes” we need to dig ourselves out of. In everyday life, the moment your realize you’re on the wrong path, you stop driving or hiking and turn around. Same with life and business. Realize mistakes quickly and turn around fast. Don’t’ let ditches become holes.
History – “Alcohol. The cause and solution to all life’s problems” – Homer Simpson. That’s always been one of my favorite Homer lines. We didn’t start off with having booze in our shops. In fact, it’s didn’t make its debut until about 6 years ago when we opened Oddfellows. We always thought that the Late Night Slice concept at some point had to involve alcohol, but turning what was basically a concession stand a full-blown restaurant definitely posed it challenges. It took as about a year after S. 4th St. opened to figure out how to master this challenge, but we finally got it right and haven’t looked back since. Pizza and booze are the world’s two favorite things and I think we have found the perfect mix of the two.
Motivation – “Your level of success will rarely exceed your level or personal development because success is something you attract through personal development.” – anonymous
What I’m Reading or Watching – I’ve had a lot of couch time these last two weeks, so it’s given me a chance to catch up on a few movies I’ve wanted to watch. A couple days ago, Rachael and I watched Supersize Me Two, a documentary by Morgan Spurlock. If you watched the first Supersize Me, you’ll sort of know what this one was about. The part I liked about this one was it was shot in Columbus. So it was pretty cool to see all the familiar places. He dives into all the bullshit around food labeling and how our food is marketed to us. Very interesting doc. Highly recommended.
Baby Update – Just when you think you got this whole parenting thing down, the little turd throws you a curveball! Not that I thought we’d have it all figured out in three weeks, but we were optimistic none the less. To be honest, it’s been pretty good. Our sleep is interrupted a couple times a night, we knew that was going to happen. We’re getting through it. Every day we get a little more of a routine in place. Something familiar that we can schedule around. All-in-all he’s a pretty rad little dude. I can’t wait for you all to meet him!
Thanks for reading! Like or hate any part of this? Let me know! I really value your feedback.
Have a great week!
5 Things to Consider Archive 